The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says the operationalization of the national electronic pharmacy platform (NEPP), will promote the purchase of legal drugs as the platform will provide drugs approved by only the Food and Drugs Authority.
According to him, the platform will help regulate the activities of unlicensed online pharmacies, improve the pharmacy to patient ratio and enhance pharmaceutical service delivery in the country.
“The introduction of the National ePharmacy is meant to safely and securely make available medicines, reduce the burden of cost and save time,” he said. The operationalization of the platform is such that every drug request entered into the system is controlled by a team of professional registered pharmacists. The national ePharmacy platform will make it possible for the regulated growth of the digital health space in Ghana.”
In his address at the launch of the national electronic pharmacy platform, Dr. Bawumia noted that, the idea of an integrated electronic pharmacy platform for the control and accessibility of medication online is a developing sector in many countries.
He therefore indicated that “with the national electronic pharmacy platform, Ghana will be part of this new pharmaceutical digital economy to boost pharmaceutical sales.”
The Vice president further assured the pharmacy council of the government’s continuous support in improving the platform adding that “I want to assure you of the government’s commitment to focus on the other important sectors that complement and bring improved efficiency to your work at the council.”
According to him, the government is committed to working with the pharmacy council to secure in the public interest the highest standards in the practice of pharmacy by ensuring that pharmaceutical service providers have the right qualification, practice in accordance with set standards and are accessible to the whole population.
He also mentioned that this initiative is part of the government’s many policies to facilitate the growth of digitalization in the country to help create employment and to generate more revenues to boost the country’s economy.
“The increasing adoption of digital technologies and ecommerce especially in the healthcare sector is anticipated to propel overall growth and it is why government finds this platform not only important in linking patients to the approved licensed pharmacists but also a critical innovation in safeguarding the future of our youth, providing avenues for job creation and digital startup business innovations and economic growth.”
On his part, the President of the pharmaceutical society of Ghana, Pharmacist Samuel Kow Donkor, appealed to the pharmaceutical society to endeavour to help the platform achieve its objectives.
While addressing them he said, “As regulators, we are counting on you to ensure that there is clear separation of function or services to be sure that the platform administrator is clearly separated from the service providers to avoid monopoly and to encourage other software developers to innovate apps that can plug into the national ePharmacy platform in order to offer competitive services.”
He further assured the public of enhanced services and quality professional pharmaceutical care on the ePharmacy platform.
Source: Dorcas Akpakudi/ ATL FM NEWS
